So many books....so little time!

You know the feeling – you’re in the midst of an awesome book and then ALL of your holds come in AT THE SAME TIME, and coincidentally (or not), the new release you were waiting on hits the shelves and it is one that you MUST purchase and read RIGHT THIS MINUTE.  Oh and you have that book to review for your library newsletter…

And then while you bask in the glow of ALL THE NEW SHINY BOOKS, you are brought back to reality and think – YES, I DO have to be a responsible human being and I can’t live under a rock in order to read ALL THE THINGS on my (growing on the daily)  To Be Read List … right???

Enter Goodreads, and  the Save To My List (aka: Wishlist function) of your library’s OPAC. Most libraries have this function enabled - take a peek at other library catalogs too.

YES! There IS salvation in sight!

Goodreads has a great feature where you can make lists and track what you’ve read and what you want to read and rate and write reviews for the books you loved, and hey…it’s even SOCIAL. So you can link up with others and discuss the books you've loved .. and hated ... because when you read a book you want to TALK!...right!

And, since everything is in list form you could use it as a reader's advisory tool. Plus it can be viewed on the web or in the app on your smartphone or table!

So, when you are going through your various GoodReads lists, you can go into your library’s OPAC and create a wishlist of those titles, instead of putting them on hold, so YOU control when you want to read them! With a simple click they can go from your wishlist, to your holds list, to in your hands or on your eReader!

How do you manage your To-Be-Read list?

What IS in a book club nowadays?

I was driving home from my book club the other night and I got to thinking: what makes a book club click? 

What types of books really get the conversation heated to the point where you don’t even need to consult your list of discussion questions because the conversation just flows?

Then I got to thinking about virtual book clubs, because, these days, everything is online and available as an app or blog  or even a video conference. 

That puts the whole notion of a book club on a different level – no longer face to face, but computer screen to computer screen, where people are interacting in the comments of a blog post, or over the airwaves in a Skype chat, or in a chatroom. 

But I think despite the varying ways a book club can be held – it all comes down to the people in it, the books they select, whether it be via consensus or picking from a hat – the book- weather read in print or electronic format being the glue that holds the group together. The discussion questions, weather thought out before or made up on the fly, drawing the readers together. 

Nancy Pearl also has some great ideas for book clubs: take a peek! 

Do you belong to a book club? Is it virtual or face to face? Do you think that makes a difference in the interactions at each meeting?

Gadget Zoos and eBooks Oh My!

There was this little study posted recently by Pew, maybe you’ve heard of it?

And it’s getting talked about everywhere, including one of my go-to sites, Mashable. You can read their thoughts here.

The study basically goes over how libraries are used in various communities, particularly when it comes to eBooks and technology in general. It goes on to discuss how libraries are adjusting their services to meet the needs of their patrons in this digital age.

And this got me to thinking – what does your library do to meet these needs in a time when ALL THE THINGS are going online? 

It’s crazy how in one shift on the reference desk, I can have one patron come in wanting to know where the card catalog, the literal paper card catalog, and I have to explain that it’s all online now and point them to the OPAC. And then the next interaction involves a patron asking for my help in downloading eBooks to their brand-new-out -of -the -box iPad. 

So, my library has adjusted … in the form of Gadget Zoos and eBooks 101 workshops.

We purchase the latest and greatest devices, tinker with them, download books to them, create step by step instructions for downloading said books, and basically get to know them…you know, as well as you can get to know a device. Then we release them to the public in a Gadget Zoo workshop where we teach our patrons all we know in hopes that it helps them to make an informed purchasing decision. 

Oh, and we circulate Nooks and Kindles so if they like what they learn at the class, they can check one out and see if they still like it in action! 

In our eBooks 101 workshops we go over the OverDrive website and what an eBook is and a little bit about publisher restrictions. We then break out into device specific groups and show them exactly how to download their ebooks and answer any questions they may have. A lot of troubleshooting as you can imagine. But also a lot of fun and our patrons are incredibly thankful for this service. 

But enough about what my library does, what does your library do to keep up with the trends?